"No, I'm not. I'm not friends with them!" Lily protested hotly, her eyes blazing with the mere insinuation that she would ever be friends with Potter and Black. 
Severus smiled, letting go of her swing though he didn't move out of the way. She returned the smile back at Severus, as Lily didn't want him to be cross with her. She couldn't bear it if he was ticked at her like Tunney was.
"Even Lupin! That's good to hear. In that case, let's not study with him next year," Severus replied happily. Lily gasped.
"What? No, I didn't mean him. I'm friends with him!" Lily protested immediately.
Severus glowered at her, but she got off her swing as well and stared firmly back. Eventually, he dropped his gaze, "He's one of them, though," Severus muttered.
"Severus Snape, how can you say that? He was nothing but nice to you, even when you and those terrible Slytherins--" she began scolding him hotly, using his full name which she knew he hated. But he was simply being impossible right now!
"Don't call them terrible, Lily," Severus cut her off sharply. She felt her cheeks heat, this time in anger.
"Why not? They are, Severus. They are dreadful and if you would just not hang out with them--"
"Just stop it!" he shouted, taking a threatening step towards her while shooting her an angry glare.
"You were the one who brought it up!" Lily shouted back indignantly, hands now on her hips in imitation of how her mum stood when especially angry at Petunia or their dad.
"I know, but let's just stop it," Severus pleaded, the somewhat scary demeanor of his gone once more. The miserable-looking boy walked back and sat on the swing again. Lily did as well, unsure what to say or what to think about how aggressive Sev had become. So they sat there in silence, the only sound the creaking of the chains as they moved their swings slightly.
"Fine," she finally relented, and they went back to talking about Tunney and difficult potions and other things that wouldn't cause Severus to get quite so mad. She'd convince him by the end of summer to be better towards Remus and to stay away from those terrible Slytherins. She had to!
After another hour, it was time to head home, and she hugged Severus goodbye before walking back to her house just as it was getting dark. She found her mum and dad watching the telly and entered just as Petunia headed out, dressed in an outfit her parents would never approve of with her sequin skirt that barely reached her knees and a skin-tight bandeau top.
"Mum! Dad!" Lily called, ignoring Petunia trying to get around her.
"You're such a freak, you annoying tattletale," her older sister snapped, and tried to shove past her again. But Lily held her ground and soon her parents were yelling at her sister.
"You can't leave the house looking like this, young lady!" Mrs. Evans called.
"Why not? It's what everyone wears mum!" Petunia shouted back as Lily climbed the stairs to her room, feeling quite satisfied. "I'm fifteen, mum, I'm not a child. No. NO! You can't ground me!" Lily heard her sister shriek as she closed her bedroom door. 
Even if Tunney hadn't been so mean, the fighting between her and their mum especially was absolutely dreadful. It would have made Lily's summer terrible if she wasn't allowed to escape to the park every day. Lily flopped down on her bed and turned on her home player so music filled the room and masked her sister's screeching downstairs.
She was about to journal, it always helped her sort things out, but just then she heard a tap-tap and jumped from her bed, rushing to the window. There was only one thing that could be! She laughed excitedly, expecting another letter from Dorcas, but instead, a beautiful spectacled owl dropped a package into her hand with a quickly scrawled note on it: